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I will largely disagree with you on this: "convinient: Admit it, you leave the couch as unwillingly as I do. Making games downloadable means you don't have to leave the house anymore...ever. Especially when the weather is bad or you live far from the next games retailer being able to download games is a huge advantage."
If we're talking XBox Live Arcade where a game is 200MB and you can just go make a sandwich while the game downloads, then sure. That's convenient. If you need to download a full retail game that's 4GB that is not convenient at all. It will require you to sit for several hours while your game console is locked down as well as your internet in case you were hoping to entertain yourself on youtube or something while you waited.
Sitting around and waiting to have fun... isn't really fun. For most people it's more convenient to stop at a store while they're already outside doing errands like picking up their groceries.
If we're talking XBox Live Arcade where a game is 200MB and you can just go make a sandwich while the game downloads, then sure. That's convenient. If you need to download a full retail game that's 4GB that is not convenient at all. It will require you to sit for several hours while your game console is locked down as well as your internet in case you were hoping to entertain yourself on youtube or something while you waited.
Sitting around and waiting to have fun... isn't really fun. For most people it's more convenient to stop at a store while they're already outside doing errands like picking up their groceries.
I too think that the advantages outweight the disadvantages and I was delighted to see that Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 was actually available on the PSN store the same day as the retial release... it was nice to have the option and I hope to see more of this (and Wry Guy, you can set up the console to simply download the content over night while you're sleeping!)
Thanks for the feedback, guys/girls.
@Wry Guy: I agree, there might be cases where it is more convenient to buy the game in the store. Especially when you live or work close to one. I'm just saying, with a decent internet connection you can do other things while the game is loading in the background or just leave the PC or load it at night (like @Elsa said). You just have to click "download" and the rest happens on its own...that's kind of convinient ;)
@Wry Guy: I agree, there might be cases where it is more convenient to buy the game in the store. Especially when you live or work close to one. I'm just saying, with a decent internet connection you can do other things while the game is loading in the background or just leave the PC or load it at night (like @Elsa said). You just have to click "download" and the rest happens on its own...that's kind of convinient ;)
As wonderful as digital distribution may sound, I don't foresee it being our only form to purchase a product any time soon.
The number one concern that I have yet to see anyone find a solution to is the fact that if the gaming industry went completely digital, every country would see an increase in unemployed and possibly see their economy take a hit. Why? Because hundreds of jobs would be lost.
Take a moment to look at your game case. Even if you do not realize it, hundreds of people are responsible for getting that small disc into your hands. You have the factory workers at the plastic company who produced the plastic casing and the workers who created the disc. You have people who printed off the paper cover which was created by artists who designed the cover. Then you have the people who produced the plastic wrapping that seals the case before it reaches the store and don't forget the workers who run the factory that assembles all these pieces. Those assembled boxes are then handed off to the shipping department to prepare for shipping after someone else checks the inventory of the final product. Then depending on where its being shipped from, it might get passed on to a handful of different drivers before reaching the shipping company's headquarters to be distributed around the world or country upon which - again - multiple drivers actually deliver the package. Then you have all the retail chains and the multiple levels of workers starting up for the guy who unloads the truck in the back to the guy stocking the shelves to the guy selling it to you upfront.
And let's not forget the developer's and a company's marketing department who is responsible for figuring out how to draw people's attention into a store. Or the department that overviews customer service or the department that handles distributing all the final product to all the stores, which goes for more than one company (GameStop, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, whatever other game stores are in other countries, etc...).
If the industry goes completely digital, every single thing I mentioned above would become useless and unnecessary. Marketing departments could be cut down because a company's focus goes from getting customer's attention both online and in a store to just being online. Shipping departments aren't needed at all and with so many companies dropping off UPS's, Fed-Ex's, and other shipping companies' customer list, those companies are going to loses hundreds or thousands of dollars, will need less workers, and probably see some lay offs due to just not being able to afford to pay everyone. Factories that create the cases themselves will see lay offs as well because - just like the shipping industry - they'll lose a huge amount of profit from their customers no longer needing them.
Retail chains will go out of business which would result in thousands of people being laid off. Other retail chains that specialize in more than just gaming will still be afloat but will take a major hit in profits. Not just from losing clients from game companies not needing to sell their games, but also losing that whole consumer base that purchased games. And now let's not forget all those corporate for every single one of those retail chains. Almost every single one of those corporate departments (human resources, the store's tech support, their payroll department, their marketing department, etc...) won't be needed because there's no store for the corporation to worry about. Oh and with no stores, there's no workers so there's no need for any medical benefits to cover anyone. So there goes thousands of profit from insurance companies too!
Now you're probably thinking, "Well won't companies need new workers in order to keep up with the digital demand?" Yes they will be the demand of help they will need won't be anywhere close to the work demand they have now. Companies won't need hundreds of people to run a web site or finish coding a game to make it accessible via download. Even then, it's not uncommon for a programmer's job to just be a temporary contract job upon which the person is let go after they've completed their task. So even if the industry goes completely digital, there's still not set guarantee of there being permanent, full-time jobs.
Now all those people who don't have jobs will be penny pitching. All those people who are now no longer spending money are going to effect other industries.
In other words for all of you who find this post to be "too long;didn't read"... The job demand for digital distribution is never going to fill the current job demand from having an actual product. As great as it sounds to not need to get up off your couch to buy your games, just look at the major effect its going to have on the job market. It's not worth the price we'd have to pay for that "luxury".
The number one concern that I have yet to see anyone find a solution to is the fact that if the gaming industry went completely digital, every country would see an increase in unemployed and possibly see their economy take a hit. Why? Because hundreds of jobs would be lost.
Take a moment to look at your game case. Even if you do not realize it, hundreds of people are responsible for getting that small disc into your hands. You have the factory workers at the plastic company who produced the plastic casing and the workers who created the disc. You have people who printed off the paper cover which was created by artists who designed the cover. Then you have the people who produced the plastic wrapping that seals the case before it reaches the store and don't forget the workers who run the factory that assembles all these pieces. Those assembled boxes are then handed off to the shipping department to prepare for shipping after someone else checks the inventory of the final product. Then depending on where its being shipped from, it might get passed on to a handful of different drivers before reaching the shipping company's headquarters to be distributed around the world or country upon which - again - multiple drivers actually deliver the package. Then you have all the retail chains and the multiple levels of workers starting up for the guy who unloads the truck in the back to the guy stocking the shelves to the guy selling it to you upfront.
And let's not forget the developer's and a company's marketing department who is responsible for figuring out how to draw people's attention into a store. Or the department that overviews customer service or the department that handles distributing all the final product to all the stores, which goes for more than one company (GameStop, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, whatever other game stores are in other countries, etc...).
If the industry goes completely digital, every single thing I mentioned above would become useless and unnecessary. Marketing departments could be cut down because a company's focus goes from getting customer's attention both online and in a store to just being online. Shipping departments aren't needed at all and with so many companies dropping off UPS's, Fed-Ex's, and other shipping companies' customer list, those companies are going to loses hundreds or thousands of dollars, will need less workers, and probably see some lay offs due to just not being able to afford to pay everyone. Factories that create the cases themselves will see lay offs as well because - just like the shipping industry - they'll lose a huge amount of profit from their customers no longer needing them.
Retail chains will go out of business which would result in thousands of people being laid off. Other retail chains that specialize in more than just gaming will still be afloat but will take a major hit in profits. Not just from losing clients from game companies not needing to sell their games, but also losing that whole consumer base that purchased games. And now let's not forget all those corporate for every single one of those retail chains. Almost every single one of those corporate departments (human resources, the store's tech support, their payroll department, their marketing department, etc...) won't be needed because there's no store for the corporation to worry about. Oh and with no stores, there's no workers so there's no need for any medical benefits to cover anyone. So there goes thousands of profit from insurance companies too!
Now you're probably thinking, "Well won't companies need new workers in order to keep up with the digital demand?" Yes they will be the demand of help they will need won't be anywhere close to the work demand they have now. Companies won't need hundreds of people to run a web site or finish coding a game to make it accessible via download. Even then, it's not uncommon for a programmer's job to just be a temporary contract job upon which the person is let go after they've completed their task. So even if the industry goes completely digital, there's still not set guarantee of there being permanent, full-time jobs.
Now all those people who don't have jobs will be penny pitching. All those people who are now no longer spending money are going to effect other industries.
In other words for all of you who find this post to be "too long;didn't read"... The job demand for digital distribution is never going to fill the current job demand from having an actual product. As great as it sounds to not need to get up off your couch to buy your games, just look at the major effect its going to have on the job market. It's not worth the price we'd have to pay for that "luxury".
Stephanie.. you should have done that as a separate blog because you cover a really interesting topic. I still think that digitial distribution is coming, regardless of the job losses, but I also don't think that some form of retail connection will always remain, even if they work more as a point for the purchase of digital media and hardware. Also, it will be many, many years before everyone switches over to a digital media because as noted, there are some countries (or people) that don't have good internet (or any internet).
Great response though.. it had me doing some thinking!
Great response though.. it had me doing some thinking!
@Stephanie K: I love your comment. It's well worth of being a blog post on its own.
Again, I agree. You basically elaborate on the point I tried to make with "bypassing retail sector". I didn't want to go that deep into detail, though. You are painting a rather grim picture of the future...but as I said, I also don't think digital distribution will replace physical media any time soon and merely is an additional trade channel.
On the other hand, we already have to face problems like that in other sectors of industry. Automatization and the increase in productivity causes declining of jobs. We are in a structural change from industrial society to service society.
Again, I agree. You basically elaborate on the point I tried to make with "bypassing retail sector". I didn't want to go that deep into detail, though. You are painting a rather grim picture of the future...but as I said, I also don't think digital distribution will replace physical media any time soon and merely is an additional trade channel.
On the other hand, we already have to face problems like that in other sectors of industry. Automatization and the increase in productivity causes declining of jobs. We are in a structural change from industrial society to service society.
Elsa and Sonntagskind: I do agree that it is going to be quite some time before digital distribution become the norm. Nor do I disagree with it having its advantages. It's just a large concern I have that I believe is being overlooked both by the corporations pushing for digital downloads and the community supporting it.
True, perhaps I was a bit grim with it but as Sonntagskind said, we've already seen examples of productivity taking away jobs. That is what actually caused me to write my response. I have a friend who use to work for the university we (my friends and I) go to who is now looking for a new job. I forgot what exactly he did... It had something to do with the school's web site to make it easier for students to monitor their classes but they ended up having someone from the computer science department make a better program. As a result, his service to maintain the site was not needed because this new program produced the result that he and a few others use to manually create.
True, perhaps I was a bit grim with it but as Sonntagskind said, we've already seen examples of productivity taking away jobs. That is what actually caused me to write my response. I have a friend who use to work for the university we (my friends and I) go to who is now looking for a new job. I forgot what exactly he did... It had something to do with the school's web site to make it easier for students to monitor their classes but they ended up having someone from the computer science department make a better program. As a result, his service to maintain the site was not needed because this new program produced the result that he and a few others use to manually create.
While, by and large, I agree with your post, there are a few things that I disagree with quite heartily.
"8. no trade-ins: At least so far. The game industry seems to suffer hard due to Gamestop and other second-hand retailers..."
Removing trade-ins would be detrimental to the industry. Games are just too damn expensive as it is, and removing the ability to trade-in games would significantly lower the number of new purchases that were made. Most people that trade in games use the money they receive toward new games, and thus are able to continue to support publishers. Removing trade-ins would lead to a significant drop in purchases of games, and would lead to a huge influx of piracy.
"5. monopoly: Steam has a market share of almost 70% when it comes to digital distribution on the PC market."
I won't disagree with you on that, but I will disagree that it is in any way a bad thing. It is a completely natural occurrence, given that Steam has, by far, the best system at the moment. They frequently give sales, and have a strong basis in community. People love to talk about how bad "monopolies" are, but they really aren't always. Monopolies that come about due to a great product are a good thing - they push the system forward. They provide a standard, and eventually will be over thrown by someone else who does it better. Monopolies of force, on the other hand, are a bad thing. Monopolies such as the power monopoly in the US, or the telephone monopoly that previously existed.
@Stephanie K -
While your fears are not entirely unjustified, they are really presented in a rather dramatic way that does not well reflect reality. Sure - all of those (relatively) crappy jobs would be eliminated, and those people would be without jobs, in theory. Except that it would free up TONS of money for the companies that they belonged to, and would create a massive number of jobs in other places. Those people would then be able to do a job that was much more comfortable. It is much the same as people's fear of machines replacing workers in factories - Factory jobs are crappy, and when those companies don't have to spend as much money there, they are able to create other, nicer jobs.
Other than that, Great article. And those are fairly small points anyway. Sorry about the brobdingnagian response... It took a few more words than I had expected. Oh - Also, I agree with Wry Guy about the convenient thing. Most of the DD games I get are small indie titles, so it isn't a big deal, but I picked up Oblivion and The Witcher during the Steam holiday sale, and it was not fun to wait for them to finish downloading.
"8. no trade-ins: At least so far. The game industry seems to suffer hard due to Gamestop and other second-hand retailers..."
Removing trade-ins would be detrimental to the industry. Games are just too damn expensive as it is, and removing the ability to trade-in games would significantly lower the number of new purchases that were made. Most people that trade in games use the money they receive toward new games, and thus are able to continue to support publishers. Removing trade-ins would lead to a significant drop in purchases of games, and would lead to a huge influx of piracy.
"5. monopoly: Steam has a market share of almost 70% when it comes to digital distribution on the PC market."
I won't disagree with you on that, but I will disagree that it is in any way a bad thing. It is a completely natural occurrence, given that Steam has, by far, the best system at the moment. They frequently give sales, and have a strong basis in community. People love to talk about how bad "monopolies" are, but they really aren't always. Monopolies that come about due to a great product are a good thing - they push the system forward. They provide a standard, and eventually will be over thrown by someone else who does it better. Monopolies of force, on the other hand, are a bad thing. Monopolies such as the power monopoly in the US, or the telephone monopoly that previously existed.
@Stephanie K -
While your fears are not entirely unjustified, they are really presented in a rather dramatic way that does not well reflect reality. Sure - all of those (relatively) crappy jobs would be eliminated, and those people would be without jobs, in theory. Except that it would free up TONS of money for the companies that they belonged to, and would create a massive number of jobs in other places. Those people would then be able to do a job that was much more comfortable. It is much the same as people's fear of machines replacing workers in factories - Factory jobs are crappy, and when those companies don't have to spend as much money there, they are able to create other, nicer jobs.
Other than that, Great article. And those are fairly small points anyway. Sorry about the brobdingnagian response... It took a few more words than I had expected. Oh - Also, I agree with Wry Guy about the convenient thing. Most of the DD games I get are small indie titles, so it isn't a big deal, but I picked up Oblivion and The Witcher during the Steam holiday sale, and it was not fun to wait for them to finish downloading.
@Jexral: No need to apologize, I'm glad you deemed my blog post worthy of such an elaborate response :)
"8. no trade-ins:": I see your point that the end of trade-ins could result in a huge influx of piracy. On the other hand I don't think that the people who trade in games to purchase brand-new versions do have that large an influence on the market...most people will try to buy a used copy and probably take a new one as a last resort, otherwise Gamestop wouldn't be as successful as they are. But even if you buy a new copy, the games you traded in for it will be sold to other people instead of new copies...so nonetheless you are harming publishers.
"5. monopoly:": I also think Steam by far has the best system and I'm glad they do that well. I disagree on your statement that monopolies "push the system forward", it's the competition that does that. A monopoly means that there is just ONE provider for a specific product. So the recent situation on the digital distribution market is rather an 'oligopoly'...but there is the danger of Steam eliminating its few competitors. Look at the market for 'motion gaming' for example. Nintendo had the monopoly on that since 2006 and practically made no effort to improve it significantly...why should they, there was no competition. Now that Microsoft and Sony follow up with 'Kinect' and 'Move', Nintendos profit starts dropping and they have to deal with it.
btw: I also picked up 'The Witcher' a while ago. That game definitely is a huge download and took quite some time. One of my favorite RPGs, though.
"8. no trade-ins:": I see your point that the end of trade-ins could result in a huge influx of piracy. On the other hand I don't think that the people who trade in games to purchase brand-new versions do have that large an influence on the market...most people will try to buy a used copy and probably take a new one as a last resort, otherwise Gamestop wouldn't be as successful as they are. But even if you buy a new copy, the games you traded in for it will be sold to other people instead of new copies...so nonetheless you are harming publishers.
"5. monopoly:": I also think Steam by far has the best system and I'm glad they do that well. I disagree on your statement that monopolies "push the system forward", it's the competition that does that. A monopoly means that there is just ONE provider for a specific product. So the recent situation on the digital distribution market is rather an 'oligopoly'...but there is the danger of Steam eliminating its few competitors. Look at the market for 'motion gaming' for example. Nintendo had the monopoly on that since 2006 and practically made no effort to improve it significantly...why should they, there was no competition. Now that Microsoft and Sony follow up with 'Kinect' and 'Move', Nintendos profit starts dropping and they have to deal with it.
btw: I also picked up 'The Witcher' a while ago. That game definitely is a huge download and took quite some time. One of my favorite RPGs, though.
I think that I made my point with imprecision... I was just saying that Steam was only a monopoly because there is no one that is able to compete with them yet. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."
:)
Also, yeah - 'The Witcher' seems pretty awesome so far. :)
:)
Also, yeah - 'The Witcher' seems pretty awesome so far. :)
